18 Jun The Joy of Understanding and Solving Problems: Book by Prof. Siddhartha Sen

Prof. Siddhartha Sen of the Trinity College, Dublin is a theoretical physicist who has authored a book on mathematics education and learning. Prof. Sen has kindly consented to share a sample chapter and the preface with us that can be put up for download. The book titled 'The Joy of Understanding and Solving Problems: A Guide to School Mathematics' has been written with the Irish school math eductaion perspective, but the book will be useful to anyone who wants to supplement the school education whether be it the student or the teacher. The book has been written in a very lucid style free of ambiguities and it discusses at length several topics which lie at the heart of the subject, but which unfortunately the students nor the teachers give much importance too.

The present education in most schools is too straight jacketed and Prof. Sen has started this noble initiative of helping the students know the nuances of the subject in an easy and fun manner. Simple things like why negative times negative is positive or what are exactly numbers and equations have been dealt extensively in the book and which will no doubt benefit not only the high school math student but also anyone interested in knowing the fundamentals of the subject in general.

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4 Comments

Jim Slevin

this is a wonderful text, full of insights into fundamental principles and ideas in mathematics, and beautifully elucidated by Prof Sen, a man with a passionate interest in communicating ideas to a diverse audience.